Band reunites to spread its twisted ska sound with 'Eudaimonia'

By Mark FaulknerShorelines correspondent,

In a way, it makes perfect sense that Fenwicks frontman Steven Schub would be calling for an interview from a Los Angeles hospital waiting room as one of his good friends was getting ready to go under the knife for brain surgery.

During the band's stint in Jacksonville, during the mid-'90s, the Fenwicks quickly distinguished themselves from other groups in the local music scene with a twisted yet eloquent blend of ska, funk, folk and punk rock. Add to that Schub's myriad costumes and it's a fusion impossible to forget.

The band performs Saturday at the Freebird Cafe in Jacksonville Beach.

The Fenwicks perform Saturdayat the Freebird Cafe, 200 First St. N., Jacksonville Beach at 9 p.m. Tickets are $6. For more information, call 246-2473.

"It certainly puts things in perspective," Schub said of his friend's surgery. "It's certainly hard to do crass self-promotion when your best buddy is going in for brain surgery. But I will try."

Schub faithfully recounted the Fenwicks' narrative up to now, a story the producers of VH-1's Behind the Music would slaver over. In the mid-'80s, he was performing in an atheist punk rock band, Jew2, in a battle of the bands in Israel, for which Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle was a judge. Schub won the competition.

Five years later, Schub and guitarist Jim Corrieri had formed the Fenwicks as an acoustic duo in New York City and were performing in clubs around East Greenwich Village. By day, Schub worked as a doorman at a New York hotel and one day, Pyle arrived to stay in that hotel during Skynyrd's 1991 reunion tour. Schub said Pyle remembered him, so he gave the drummer a video of his work with Corrieri. It inspired Pyle to invite the duo to Jacksonville to form a full band.

Once landing on the First Coast, Pyle hooked the duo up with his son and percussionist Chris, guitarist Carlo Mercieri, bassist Ed Richardson and drummer Ken Nasta.

"I give full credit to Artimus Pyle; he's the one who brought us all together," Schub said. "He knew what he was doing, somehow. He was like a mad genius."

Schub remembers he and Corrieri first thinking leaving New York City to advance their careers in Jacksonville was just a little odd.

"I thought it was completely insane and so did Jimmie," Schub said. "But we figured we've got nothing to lose. It's funny. I think it's the way life works. ... When you force yourself to take the risk, to take the leap, inevitably it's going to force you to discover things. It worked out. We lived in Jacksonville for about a year before we took the whole band up to New York."

From New York, the now super-sized version of the Fenwicks recorded its first CD, 1994's Member of No Tribe. With the CD complete and a promising debut higher than the Beastie Boys' latest offering on college radio, the group set out on tour.

The group handily won over the critics. Sound Views' Kevin Roe said, "Both live and on tape, this workaholic bunch of merry tunesters churn out a quirky, angular mix of folk-rock, funk, ska and manic energy that's pulled along, kicking and screaming all the way, by Schub's satiric, hyperactive lead vocals. The combination really clicks for some high-octane pop."

Unfortunately, Guitar Acoustics, the Fenwicks' label, wasn't quite sure what to do with the group. With a heavy ska sound, before No Doubt and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones spearheaded the third wave of ska in the late '90s, the Fenwicks toured for three years until the label folded and the tour money dried up.

"After three years living in a van together, we decided to go our separate ways and take a bit of a break," Schub said. "We love each other, but it was just too brutal."

Corrieri started working for a company that handles private performances for A-list entertainers. Nasta and Chris Pyle joined Royal Trux, an alternative rock band signed to Virgin records. Richardson joined local funk group Mr. Beam and the Stuff Essentials. Schub moved to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career.

"I'm swinging back and forth between television and obscure arty indie flicks such as the movie Caught, which the Fenwicks are in," Schub said. "I play Eddie, Maria Conchita Alonso's almost psychotic, almost homicidal, comedian son, who just so happens to sing for a failed alternative ska band called the Fenwicks in the movie. It always gets a laugh when that film is screened, but it's the painful truth. There's Fenwick propaganda and paraphernalia littered throughout the film."

Two years ago, Corrieri and Schub did a duo gig again, this time in New Orleans.

"To our credit, we got yanked off the stage after about five songs," Schub said of the New Orleans gig. "We realized we had the rage inside us. The crowd loved us, but I think I snapped a Shure SM58 microphone in half and I realized we still had it in us. It was all a good sign, and we decided we have to try this again."

After a couple of shows in Jacksonville, the reformed Fenwicks started working on their sophomore release, Eudaimonia. It's a collection of songs written while the group was on tour in 1994 to the recent reformation, all laid down at the Made in the Shade studios in Jacksonville Beach.

"I really feel, musically and lyrically, it's the best thing any of us have ever done," Schub said of the new CD. "I think we feel that collectively and we realized we had to do this. We had to put down these songs. When you write a song, it becomes like a baby. So these songs were infants. To have them floating out there and never -- we just never could live with ourselves."

Right now, all the Fenwicks have is themselves. With no label deal, the group is selling the new album on its Web site, go to Jacksonville.com, keyword: the fenwicks and another site, go to Jacksonville.com, keyword: cdbaby. Schub said while Tribe was powered by anger, Eudaimonia is more positive.

"It's not enough to be anti-, to tear down," Schub said. "You've got to replace it with something. The whole sense of life on the record is just sort of mirth-chocked. It's just giddy. It's infectious and addictive and makes me bounce and makes other people bounce. People under 5 and over 80 seem to bob around. That's sort of intention all along. Ultimately, what we try to be about is mirth, joy, you know; sort of embracing our time here. Especially now it's kind of sinking home."

After this gig, Schub isn't sure what will happen next with the group. He's hoping to head back into the van and hit the road for tours. As long as the group members are willing to play, he'll be ready to start the group again.

"As long as we back enough money so that we can keep recording, even if the Fenwicks become some weird lifelong art project where every five years we meet in Jacksonville and record and play together, we'll all be happy. It certainly fulfills something in me that nothing else does."